Gillian Lester

Gillian Lester’s scholarship focuses on income inequality, public finance policy, workplace law, and the design of social insurance laws and regulations. From 2015 to 2024, she served as Columbia Law School’s 15th dean as well as Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law, leading the faculty in recruiting more than two dozen full-time professors, establishing six new and innovative law clinics, and strengthening and expanding the Law School’s intellectual and scholarly depth. 

Through landmark investments in student financial aid and loan repayment assistance—and initiatives such as the Max Berger ’71 Public Interest/Public Service Fellows Program—Lester expanded access to a Columbia legal education, as well as students’ ability to choose a career in the public interest. Under her leadership, the Law School created a new Executive LL.M. in Global Business Law degree program and has undergone a transformation of its physical and digital campus infrastructure—including the project to reimagine the Law Library. In addition, she spearheaded programs dedicated to lawyer-leadership, organizational character, science and technology policy, and constitutional democracy. Lester also guided the Law School in its successful five-year Campaign for Columbia Law, which exceeded its goal by raising more than $325 million.

Prior to joining Columbia as dean in 2015, Lester served on the faculty of the University of California, first at UCLA and later at Berkeley Law School, where she was interim dean from 2012 to 2014. Lester is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute. She served on the executive committee of the Association of American Law Schools from 2017 to 2020 and is a founding board member of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. For her service on the university’s COVID-19 Task Force, Lester was recognized in 2022 with Columbia’s Nicholas Murray Butler Gold Medal for distinguished contributions in academic administration.